Pteri Flight
by Xtra3847
Summary: Two Zafara's, sold into slavery, attempt to escape. Will they succeed? And what will happen afterwards? One Shot.


**Disclaimer:** Neopets, the species names, and the species colors are all copyright to and Viacom. The characters, however, belong to me.

---

_Click, click_

I heard the master clicking his fingers. That was the signal for one of his slaves to come to him. Reluctantly, I dropped the duster and walked over, my chains clinking as I went. He was lying on the couch, his hair looking like the head of a mushroom...well, if that mushroom head was dark brown and shiny.

"Zachary, get me a lemonade," he said to me.

"Yes, master," I said, hoping he didn't catch the edge in my voice.

I walked into the kitchen where my only friend, Roberta, was washing, drying, and putting away dishes. I sighed, as I thought of how we ended up here.

Both of us were blue Zafaras, abandoned at a young age. While in the pound, we got cages next to each other, and we talked and soon became friends.

Someone walked in and adopted both of us. But right after we left the pound, we both were led right into the Haunted Woods, and taken to the person we now call "master". He gave the person who adopted us a bag on neopoints, and led us to his house. It was built on a cliff, with ocean on three sides. On the last side was the north border of the Haunted Woods, blocked off by a chain link fence.

Anyways, we were given an old, ripped up, white T-Shirt to wear. I got pants that were in just as bad condition, while Roberta got a skirt. We both had chains on us, and put to work immediately.

Anyway, I grabbed one of the clean glasses, and started to pour some lemonade. Roberta looked at me and asked, "Is the Pteri flight still on for tonight?"

"Pteri flight" was our code phrase for "escape". We chose that because we wanted to be as free as a Pteri in flight

"Definitely," I said.

But she was looking at me and not what she was doing, so she accidently dropped a glass. Like it was in slow motion, we watched it fall. It hit the floor, smashing in dozens of pieces.

In seconds, one of the Grarrl guards was there. His job was to keep the slaves in line, deal out punishments, and make sure nobody tries to escape.

He looked first at the broken glass, then his cold grey eyes looked up at us. We knew that punishment for breaking the master's property was 50 lashes.

Without a word, he grabbed Roberta's chains and started to drag her out of the room. She did break the glass, but I couldn't let her get hurt like that. I just couldn't.

"Wait," I said. "It wasn't Roberta. I was the one that knocked the glass off the counter."

The Grarrl looked at me, then he threw her chains down and grabbed mine. I followed without resisting. As I looked at Roberta, she mouthed the words, "Thank you."

I gave a nod, as the guard took me to the back. We passed other slaves, of a few different species, but none of them lifted a paw to help. They knew that if they did, they would get double my punishment.

We went into the room used for punishments I was chained to the wall, and I stood there, awaiting my lashes.

---

After he was done, I was in some pain, as I made my way back to the master with his lemonade. As I looked outside, I saw it was getting dark. Good, that meant we would soon be done for the night.

"Last count," one of the guards said, as I finished sweeping up the broken glass.

Last count was when all the slaves stood in a line, in order by our names. Then we were each checked off on a list, to make sure nobody was able to make an escape during the day.

After we were all checked off, we were led to our sleeping chambers. One for the guys, another for the girls. Before we went in, though, our chains were taken off of us for the night. Roberta and I gave a nod as we got our chains removed, confirming that we were going to do this.

As I laid in bed, eyes open, I glanced at a clock every few minutes, waiting for our escape attempt. At 11:30 PM, we knew that the guards outside changed shifts. While they changed, however, the yard outside the fence was empty for a few minutes. That would give us our chance to slip out.

We knew that this was a very dangerous plan. Any escape attempt was punishable by a very painful death. But if we succeeded, we would be free.

Soon, it was 11:30, and I quietly made my way to the window and peeked out. After the guards left, I quietly unlocked and opened the window, slipped outside, and slid it back down. Then I saw a dark figure nearby. I gasped, thinking I was spotted.

"Pteri flight," the figure whispered.

I let my breath out. It was only Roberta.

"You scared me. Don't ever do that again," I whispered back.

"It's a deal, if we survive the next few minutes. Now let's go, before they..."

"Hey, stop right there!" a guard yelled.

"...see us," she finished, and took off running. I was right behind her.

They gave chase, yelling for us to stop. But we had no intention of doing so. Then I saw something fly by my ear and hit the ground. I could see it was an arrow.

"They're shooting at us!" I yelled.

"Yeah? RUN!" she yelled back.

We continued running, and were almost to the fence, when I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I feel to the ground and looked to see an arrow in my leg.

"Zach!" Roberta yelled.

"Don't worry about me, just go!" I yelled back.

Without hesitation, she ran back, pulled the arrow out, and put an arm around me. She helped me over the fence before climbing over herself. And just in time too.

A few arrows whistled past us and embedded themselves in a couple of trees. But we didn't care. We were free.

---

We finally collapsed to the ground. We figured that nobody would try and venture into the Haunted Woods after dark. We wouldn't have been here if there was another way to escape.

"Well...we did it," she said.

I nodded, as I tried to stop the bleeding on my injured leg..

"Oh, let me help you with that," she said, coming over. She ripped off a piece of her own shirt and wrapped up my leg. I blinked in slight surprise.

"Thanks," I said. "And thanks for coming back for me."

"The way I saw it, we would either find freedom together, or die together," she answered, then shivered. "It sure is cold out here."

I grabbed some nearby branches and started a campfire. Soon, there was a blazing fire in front of us, making the cool night air more bearable.

"That's better," Roberta said.

As she warmed herself, I couldn't help but look at her. Roberta was a beautiful Zafara, and I admit I loved her when we were in slavery. But any contact of a romantic nature was a punishment of...

I shook that thought away. That was something we never had to worry about again. No need to think of consequences.

As I balanced the pros and cons of sliding closer to her, she took me by surprise by sliding closer to me. And then she took me by even more surprise when she turned my head to her and gave me a quick kiss.

I blinked, as she blushed and turned away. I brought her face back to me and kissed her back. As we separated, a smile went across Roberta's face.

"I guess we both had the same thought," she said. "I was afraid I was too forward."

"You weren't," I answered. "I loved you for a long time, but was afraid of being punished."

"I felt the same about you. And now we're free. Free to love." she answered.

We fell asleep in each others arms, as a Pteri above us took flight.

**The End**


End file.
